Be Safe
by richonnelandfill
Summary: Michonne reminisces on moments with Rick right before she went on runs. She holds hard feelings towards Rick for being trapped in Jessie's sticky web. Richonne fluff ensues.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first fan-fic ever. So please don't kill me for grammar and hopefully this story is entertaining, it was when I wrote it, enjoy.**

"Are you really going to stand there and scowl at him?" Michonne hadn't noticed Maggie watching her glaring at Rick and Jessie from the front of a tree trunk away from everyone else. Judith calmly kept herself busy by investigating one of Michonne's dreadlocks as she was held in her arms.

"I'm not scowling." Michonne frowned without turning her head, avoiding looking at Maggie's worried stare. Her eyes remained focused on the interaction between Rick and Jessie, as Glenn and Abraham continued packing up the van. The sun was so brutal that Abraham already had giant sweat stains down the ribcage of his dingy white tank top.

The three men were going on a short run for supplies for Alexandria. This was their first time outside the comfort of the gates since they had entered a few weeks back. It didn't take long for the group to be there before the women of Alexandria were throwing themselves at Rick, using requests to see his daughter Judith as an excuse, but Michonne wasn't buying it. None were more annoying than Jessie. Ever since Rick went ballistic and killed her husband Pete, she came sniffing around the house daily as if she was a stray puppy, and Rick began more and more absent at home.

Maggie rolled her eyes. "I completely understand why you're upset with Rick. Before Jessie came along, you two had this weird unspoken connection, and now it's thrown off. But if you care about him the way I know that he does about you, you can at least put your grievances aside and tell him bye."

"And how exactly does Rick feel about me?" Michonne darted her eyes towards her friend, she had been blindsided by Maggie's striking claim.

"It's obvious. Every time you used to go on runs Rick would of course say bye to everyone, but he would spend extra making sure his precious Michonne returned unscathed."

"Well that was before his blond Barbie shown up." Michonne grumbled, watching Jessie place a kiss on Rick's cheek, and Rick standing there blushing like an idiot. Disgusted by the scene, Michonne purposely preoccupied herself with readjusting Judith's clothes. 6y

"Do you hear yourself? Michonne, you of all people have nothing to feel jealous about."

"Did you not just see that kiss?"

"I did. Although Jessie is constantly falling all over Rick, he barely reciprocates. Rick is a nice guy, he's not going to push her off of him unless he has a flat out reason to. Plus I bet he's enjoying the attention. His wife has been gone a while now, I think it's fair that he started to enjoy a feminine presence." Michonne was now the one rolling her eyes. "It _should_ be you, but you're too chicken to initiate anything with him. He's at least trying in the best way he knows how."

"What are you talking about?" Michonne asked, readjusting Judith on her other hip one last time before finally submitting to look into her friend's green eyes.

Maggie shook her head. "You really are clueless. That man comes back from every run with things for you, _and_ he treats you as the mother of his children. Or did you forget that when he practically begged you with puppy dog eyes to live with him?" Michonne sulked at the ground as she twisted the toe of her worn out boot into the dirt. "And let me not forget about the stare downs you two have. Gosh, I've never seen a man bare into a woman's soul like that. Not since I last saw daddy and mama together." Maggie surveilled the sky in remembrance of her parents. "Michonne, trust me, Rick cares for you deeply. Don't let Super Cuts over there make you reconsider your importance in his life." Maggie grabbed Michonne's free hand and squeezed, she then made her way to the gates to walk home.

Michonne mulled over this information until her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Carl walking over to hug his dad. "Time to say bye to daddy Ladybug." At that moment she seriously considered handing over Judith to Carl so she could avoid any interaction with Rick, but she took heed of Maggie's advice. As she shuffled over to Rick, Carl, and Jessie, she began to feel subconscious of how her early morning appearance. She had on her usual tank top and tight pants, but having Jessie there made her wonder if she should've taken the extra time to do something with her hair, or at least check her face for crust before she left this morning. Jessie had on a floral white dress and her hair was curled like some 1940s house wife sending her husband off to the war. Then man was only going to be gone for a day, Michonne thought lightly shaking her head.

When she reached Rick, her face glimmered at Judith's excitement to see her father. "Judy wants a kiss from her papa." Rick beamed at his daughter, tickling her as he covered her cheeks in noisy kisses. Although, she was still annoyed with Rick she couldn't help but laugh at their interaction. "Okay, wave bye bye," she imitated a wave and Judith copied it, gurgling at her father. "See you Rick, be safe." She accelerated past Rick before he could interject, but when she reached Carl, she asked if he could take Judith home.

"Everything okay?" Carl frowned.

"Yea, yea, I just wanted to take the long way home, and I didn't want to have Judy out in the hot sun for too long. I'll be home in a bit." She bid Carl a weak smile.

Rick watched the exchange from afar, bothered that Michonne continued to be short with him. He couldn't even read her anymore like he used to, so he planned on talking to her when he got back home.


	2. Chapter 2

Michonne slowly walked along the wide Alexandria road, distracted by her surroundings. She passed the giant cherry blossom tree that sat on the edge of the community pond. The beautiful colors of the tree took her back to a memory of her preparing to leave the prison to find the Governor.

 _Orange and red leaves crunched underneath Michonne's boots, as she shifted her weight from one leg to another, waiting for Rick to finish. This was her third time leaving the prison, but Rick still felt it was necessary to give her a safety lecture before releasing her. Rick stood a few yards apart from Michonne, not wanting to invade her personal space._

 _"You get tired, come on home. You get hurt, don't try to press your luck riding the horse back home like some mad woman. You hear me?" Rick's blue eyes contrasted from the backdrop of the autumn morning sky._

 _"Yes Rick." Her head leaned exasperatedly on her shoulder, as she halfway listened to his repetitive speech like a child. "I know how to take care of myself Rick." She readjusted her katana on her shoulder._

 _"Yea I know. I just want to make sure you come back in one piece Michonne. This isn't some silly game, the Governor is dangerous. I really don't like you going out there alone, but I can't chance leaving my kids here." He quickly glanced at the colorful floor of leaves and back into her brown eyes._

 _"I'll be okay." She grabbed the reigns of the horse and turned back to look at Rick. "Should I come back in several pieces, you'll be the first to know," she smirked. He couldn't help but smirk back at her dark humor._

 _"Okay." He nodded and watched her mount her horse._

She giggled to herself at the memory. Rick was so overprotective that day, it was annoying but she also found it kind of cute. Michonne opened the door of the Grimes house to see Carl sitting at the dining room table feeding Judith with a plate of his own in front of him.

"You've been gone for hours. Are you sure you're okay?" Carl asked.

"You are definitely your father's son."

"I'm going to go on a hunch and say that's a good thing."

"It is . . . I'm fine Carl."

He wasn't convinced with her answer so he continued. "Don't take this the wrong way but you've been seeming moody lately. Is it, you know, that time of the month?"

Her face deadpanned. "No, and what do you mean _moody?_ I was moody when I first came to the prison, but as of late I would say I'm . . . reflective, not moody."

"I don't know. You seemed upset this morning outside the gates. Was it because of my dad?" Michonne panicked. She knew that Carl was protective like his father, but could he read her thoughts like his father too?! "He hasn't had to go on a run in a long time. I know it's a short one, but for some reason seeing him leave still made me a little nervous." She knew where the conversation was headed, and let out the breath she was holding, she was in the clear for now. "It almost felt like old times before the turn, you know, then I had to remind myself that he still has to go out there and we're not as safe here as the Alexandrians would like to think."

"And for some, they won't be able to understand it until they go out there and experience it for themselves. Believe me, I hate when your father leaves too." Michonne said.

"Well why did you walk off so fast before he could say anything back to you this morning? Are you still mad about the stupid plan he, Carol, and Daryl lied to you about?" He raised a spoonful of applesauce to his sister's chubby cheeks.

"No we've gotten past that." She moved towards the kitchen to fix her own plate of Carol's casserole.

Carl raised both eyebrows, waiting for Michonne to admit her aggravation with his dad. When Michonne noticed the long silence, she looked back at Carl and sighed, knowing he wouldn't drop the subject.

"Does it have something to do with dad and Jessie?" When Michonne grimaced at the sound of Jessie's name, she gave Carl all the answers he needed.

"No, no, it's not that." Michonne attempted to lie.

Carl had the widest grin across his face. "It's okay, I don't like her much either. She's nice but she comes off as desperate for attention. Plus, I've known for a while that you and my dad like each other. I'm young, but I'm not stupid."

Embarrassed that her little secret was out in the open, Michonne used her fork to play with the food on her plate. "That you aren't."

"I think it's cool. You take care of me, dad, and Judith so you're basically a mom to me already." His admission caused tears to well up in her eyes.

"Shucks kid, could you be any more awesome?"

"I think at this point it's pretty much impossible. But really, I've felt this way for a long time. I only found it weird that you and dad have been playing dumb around each other. But now Jessie's involved, I don't even know what's happening with that."

"That makes two of us." Michonne admitted.

"You should talk to him."

"Carl, if your dad is happy, who am I to break things up?"

Carl held his fork up to his mouth and mumbled, "Michonne Grimes, duh."

Michonne's eyes popped out of her head and almost choked on her food, "Okay, it's time for you to go to bed." Carl snickered. Judith had no idea what was going on, but she wanted to be in on the banter, she shrieked in pure joy. Michonne walked over to the high chair and grabbed the baby, she gleamed, "Judy your brother is insane, isn't he?" As Carl hopped up from his seat at the table, and marched up the stairs to his room. To no one in particular, Michonne said, "Maybe he has a point."


	3. Chapter 3

Rick wasn't expected to be home until morning, therefore Michonne was on bedtime duty. She carried the baby upstairs and gave her a bath, and then laid her down in her crib to sleep. Carl was in his room reading comics, which meant that he would be asleep shortly. Michonne crept into her bedroom to find pajamas to wear before she showered, whatever she chose had to be light weight because the summer heat proved to be unbearable even with the sun down. Maneuvering her hand towards the back of her dresser drawer, she found a set of light grey pajamas; a thin spaghetti strap top, and short shorts trimmed in white lace. Michonne avoided wearing those particular pajamas around the house due to their revealing length and material, but the kids were in bed, and Rick was not home; she had no issue.

Just as she went to pull the pajamas out of the drawer, a brown tank top fell out onto the floor. She had wondered where that shirt disappeared to, it was the shirt she had worn for almost a week straight out on the road with the group. She remembered a specific time when she went on a run, while they took shelter at Father Gabriel's church. He had plenty of food stock piled, but there was a shortage of water, especially having so many people in their group, so Michonne, Glen, Rosita, and Abraham volunteered to go on a short run about ten miles into town.

 _Michonne zipped her vest over her brown tank top, and headed out the front doors of the church with her katana in hand. She stopped when she felt a familiar hand grab her forearm._

 _"Michonne."_

 _"Rick, do we really have to do this right now? We're on a tight schedule." She signed, and surveyed the skies, trying to track the time. The sun had recently peaked out from above the clouds. The last bit of purple and pink hues diminished every minute as the sun continued to rise. Michonne turned towards her friend, and hooded her eyes with a flat hand to keep the sun from her hurting her eyes._

 _Coincidentally enough, Rick wore a brown tight shirt that matched hers, and the fit of it made hiding her attraction to him nearly impossible. Every movement he made, she could see the muscles working from the outside of the shirt. His wild, curly beard unexpectedly was a turn on as well. She thought back at the prison that she would prefer clean-shaven Rick, but wild-bearded Rick she imagined was a savage in bed. She easily pictured him ripping her clothes to shreds, and having his way with her against his bedroom wall. Her fantasy was getting out of hand; therefore, she refocused her attention to the clear blue eyes staring back at her._

 _Rick pleaded with Michonne to hear him out, wrinkling his forehead in full seriousness. She nodded at the gesture. The way he was micromanaging people earlier let her know that he was nervous. He stepped closer to Michonne, close enough to grab her elbow which he did with care. "I trust you to take care of yourself, so I'm not going to lecture you on that this time. We were all split up for a good while after the prison fell. I don't want that to happen again, so please stick together at all costs. I just got Judith back, I don't want to end up-well Carl and I don't want to end up losing you again." Michonne's hard squint softened, understanding his protectiveness. Losing each other in a world like this, even if only temporarily was utterly frightening. She had thought about it last night, but she was surprised that Rick was bringing it up aloud. They had never really talked about it before, they mostly communicated through silent actions._

 _Michonne simply wanted to help find water for her family, and here Rick was making her sentimental, her heart fluttered. Rick Grimes was going to be the end of her, she thought to herself. "I don't want to lose you either." She quickly cleared her throat. "You, Judy, or Carl." Before things turned awkward, she assured him, "We'll be back before sundown."_

Michonne all of sudden realized her cheeks blushing as she held the tank top to her chest, she felt so loved by her family in that moment. Michonne placed the shirt back into the drawer and closed it. A shower was in order before she hopped in bed, and she relished in it, smiling to ear to ear, but that soon ended when she remembered the road block named Jessie. Upon entering Alexandria, things appeared to be on the incline for a possible relationship with Rick, but that was somehow intercepted, he barely came home nowadays. Back to square one, Michonne grew disappointed, the same way she did earlier this morning watching him and Jessie canoodling outside the gates.

She climbed on top of her bed, and started mapping out when the relationship with Jessie started, and why. Michonne was so lost, she knew she wasn't going to get any sleep anytime soon, causing her to climb back out of the bed to make herself some tea. Feeling comfortable, Michonne moved from her bedroom hallway to the kitchen without turning on any lights. She had made the journey too many times to count the first couple of weeks that they had moved in, neither her, nor Rick had trusted the Alexandrians enough to get a peaceful rest.

Michonne grabbed a packet of tea from the cupboard when she heard the door knob rattling around furiously. Startled, Michonne about cursed herself for forgetting to grab her katana from upstairs, but in her struggle to creep to the main stairway, she caught a glimpse of Rick standing outside the door from the front window, removing her alert disposition. She slowly opened the door to see a frustrated Rick bent down, picking up his keyring that he dropped. He stepped through the front door with a soft "Hey."

"Hey, I thought you weren't supposed to be back until morning." Michonne pushed her eyebrows together in deep confusion.

"Yea, that was the plan but we ran into some trouble maker named Jesus." Rick sighed as he sat at the dining room table.

"Jesus?"

"Yea, long story."

No longer distracted by the fight with the living room door, Rick noticed Michonne's bed attire, he couldn't believe in the time he's known her that he has never seen what lie underneath those tight pants she wore. Her legs were lean and long, and the grey shorts she had on barely covered her voluptuous derriere, the bottom of her cheeks sat perkily above her the back of her smooth thighs. What Rick wouldn't give at the moment to forget his whole day, and pry his fingers between those powerful thighs. Her belly button peeked out from the bottom hem of her pajama top, inciting a mental checklist of all the places on her body he wanted to discover with his hot tongue. As Michonne walked back to the kitchen to continue on her quest for tea, Rick noticed her full breasts bouncing playfully in her shirt; those could be added to the list. Her beautiful crown of dreads was pulled back into a ponytail, which made it easier to see her juicy full lips and soft brown eyes. Michonne could wear a parka and still be gorgeous, Rick thought to himself. He had better start talking again before she noticed him drooling, plus he still had a bone to pick with her, which was going to be difficult with all his blood flow heading in one direction.

"Did I wake you with all that noise?" Rick inquired.

"No, I was having a hard time getting to sleep." She lifted the tea cup in her hand so that Rick would get the gist.

"Ah, I see. Well do you mind staying up with me for a little bit?"

"Sure, I'll warm up some food for you." She completely thought back to Carl's 'Michonne Grimes' comment from earlier, he was too observant for his own good.

Rick went on to tell her that Jesus was from a place called Hillptop, and he wanted to make an alliance by providing Alexandria with food and medical supplies, in return for security of Hilltop by Alexandria. Most of the homes and businesses nearby Alexandria had been cleared out already, so if Hilltop was willing to do the scavenging for Alexandria, Rick was open to the idea, but he wanted to go and meet their leader first; he couldn't risk it being a Terminus 2.0. Rick contemplated taking Jesus back to Hilltop with the group while they were already out on the run, but their car didn't have enough gas to make it there and back. Therefore, the group would travel in the morning; plus, he felt it smart to bring more members of the group just in case a battle ensued.

In finishing his story about Jesus, Rick was able to take bigger bites of food into his mouth, between chews he asked, "How were Carl and Judith?"

"Fine. Although Carl's not going to be happy to hear that you're leaving so soon." She slowly sipped from the warm cup.

Rick rubbed his thin salt and pepper beard. "Figured that. He's mature for his age but he's still just a kid. I'm glad that we're even at a stage of his life that he still misses me when I leave. At least my _kids_ worry about me." His eyebrows raised matter-of-factly, staring directly at Michonne. She then twisted her body in her chair to find the person that he was directing his jab at, because it couldn't have been her.

"Me? I don't particularly like when you're gone either." She scowled at him in disbelief.

"You sure have a funny way of showing it." He placed his fork down on the table with his fist and continued. "You barely said bye to me this morning, oh yea what'd you say 'See ya Rick, be safe'. _Really_?" Annoyance read all over his face.

Michonne pursed her lips, his selective memory pissed her off to no end. "You should remember it because those were some of the last words you said to me the last time I went on a run." He scrunched up his face trying to remain angry, but failed miserably, feeling slightly guilty that he couldn't remember what she was talking about. She reluctantly decided to disclose her memory of that day.


	4. Chapter 4

_Carl woke up a little bit early to prepare breakfast for Michonne and Judith since he was aware that she would be going on an important run, and his father was nowhere to be found lately._ _Moments later, Michonne came down the stairs to sit at the dining room table, starting on the small breakfast with her katana resting by her side. She talked to Judith as the baby waited for her bowl of cereal to be fed to her, when all of a sudden, Rick burst through the front door in his constable uniform._

 _"Whoa dad, where have you been?" Carl could tell that he hadn't changed from yesterday._

 _"At Jessie's. I'm sorry I missed dinner last night. She told me that she wanted to talk, but she started crying and telling me personal stuff. I couldn't leave her there alone son." Rick held his hands on his hips in exhaustion, as Michonne rolled her eyes at the addition to the poor Jessie saga._

 _Rick glanced around the room and realized Carl had made breakfast, his growing teenager standing at the stove with a spatula in hand. "Crap, I was supposed to make breakfast this morning. Michonne, I forgot that big run was today." He covered his forehead with his hand incredulously. Michonne had already filled her cheeks with food, so she wouldn't have any excuse to denigrate him, she simply nodded as a response. With Rick already running behind schedule for the day, he staggered over to Carl and gave him a kiss on the forehead, he turned to Judith and gave her a kiss on the forehead, he turned to Michonne and was going to give her a kiss on the forehead too, in addition to his usual lecture, but her head was down, preoccupied with the remaining food on her plate. He couldn't read her, but he didn't have time to try, so instead he patted her twice on the shoulder and advised, "Be safe." Once Rick left hastily to take a shower, Michonne hugged both children and journeyed out the door with steam blowing out her ears._

 _When she made it outside the gate, the engine of the van broke the quietness of the peaceful neighborhood. Sasha volunteered to drive so that Glenn could get information about the area from the two Alexandrians as they went out on their first run since entering the safe zone. Glenn and the two Alexandrians said bye to their wives, Abraham had shown up to the van to see Sasha off, and Michonne stood alone. She had no one to her they loved her, or that they'd be waiting for her when she came back. Rick should've been there, any other time he had been, but Jessie had him wrapped around his finger. Michonne wiped a tear from her eye with her knuckle before it fell down her cheek, remembering her ex-boyfriend Mike. After the turn, there were too many times that he left her hanging when she needed him most, and in this moment Rick was doing the same. For the first time in a long time she was scared, the Alexandrians were leading the trip and Glenn, Sasha, and herself were weary as to whether they knew what they were doing. The run could possibly go wrong in so many ways._

"That's why I stopped going on runs Rick. I wasn't going to continue putting my life in danger, and having the one person I needed to miss me, or show even an ounce of care, absent. I stood there and watched Maggie hug and kiss Glen and tell him she loved him, same for the two Alexandrian guys and their wives. Hell even Abraham came for Sasha! Any other time, I could count on my best friend to be there, regardless if I wanted you to, or not. We lost a guy on that trip Rick, and Glen seriously got hurt trying to save him. It could've easily been me." Her bottom lip began to tremble. "But who would've cared any right?"

"Mich-"

"You've had several chances to apologize before now, let me finish." Tears filled her eyes. "I wanted to stay home with the kids instead of going on runs, because I knew if anyone, your kids loved me, just as much as I loved them. I once felt the same about you . . . It took me a while, but by that point I was unbelievably vulnerable, so much so, that I was hurt, to the outside eye, considerably more than I should've been, but that day I felt like I was losing you. You knew my thoughts, my fears, and I was _so close_ to giving you my past, but I refused to give up all of me, without getting all of you. I did that before, and I won't do it again."

Tears filled Rick's eyes as he tried to put together what he wanted to say. "Michonne . . . Michonne, I'm sorry. I have been so wrapped up in this mess with Jessie. She's been needing to fill a void, and I sensed that it had to be me. I'm not remorseful for killing Pete, I did what needed to be done, but I do regret that she has to know what it's like to have a spouse taken from her, and I thought that I had to be the one to fix things. I'm the leader, that's what I do, but you're right, I haven't been giving you all of me like I had before, same goes for my kids."

Michonne scoffed at the thought. "That's an understatement."

"I deserve that."

"If having Jessie as your girlfriend fixes things, that's fine Rick. I want you to be happy, but at least run it by your son first before parading around the neighborhood with her." Michonne tightly crossed her arms.

"Girlfriend? I'm not dating Jessie."

"Oh really, because that's sure as hell what it looks like to me and everyone else here."

"All the extra time I've been spending with Jessie lately, aside from her mourning, has been training her privately how to shoot a gun and protect herself with a knife. She asked me if I could do it, because she thought you wanted to rip her head off by the looks you were already giving her." Michonne dropped her arms at his confession, guilt dampening her anger. "Yea, she flirts with me here and there, but a lot of the women in Alexandria do. I don't really pay attention to that stuff, there's too many other important things going on. Quite honestly, Jessie was starting to get annoying being around so much, but she _just_ lost her husband on account of me. I couldn't bring myself to tell her off, and on top of that the woman can't take a hint."

Michonne circled her finger around the rim of the tea cup, avoiding Rick's gaze. The suspicion of another woman taking her spot in his life was false, and now her admittance that she was falling for Rick floated in the air between them. She stood silently, not knowing how to respond. Rick was slightly amused by her disposition, very rarely did he witness his tough warrior get embarrassed. He rose from the table and met Michonne on the other side, grabbing both her wrists to articulate his want for her to stand. He positioned her close, and attached his hand to her hip. "Michonne, you are a part of this family. Jessie, nor any other woman could replace you."

He focused on her eyes, without even saying, her love for Rick read true through those big brown eyes. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead, causing her to timidly shut her eyes, savoring the sweet embrace. He moved both of his hands to her hips and tugged her front to his, placing a softer kiss on her lips. Her knees almost faltered beneath her, and her eyes blinked open not believing what was happening to her. Rick smiled down at her and bit his bottom lip, as he slowly crept his hands from her hips to the deep crease of her buttocks, protruding from beneath her shorts. Rick planned to start on his devious checklist from earlier, when Michonne swiftly interrupted, "I need to go to bed, and you do too. You have to be up early remember?" He nodded and dropped his embrace, he could tell that she had a lot of information to process, so it was only fair he let her get some rest.

"Goodnight." She whispered, as she turned to ascend the staircase to her bedroom.

"Goodnight." He scratched the back of his head with slight frustration.

Michonne lie atop her covers, with her head on the pillow, but she still couldn't sleep. She internally scolded Rick for not explaining the Jessie situation sooner, and on top of that why, did he take so long to make a move on her? She should really be scolding herself. Maggie was right, she was too scared to make something happen on her own, and she could've just asked Rick about it. Carl said he knew for a while that Rick had feelings for her, so why was Michonne so oblivious? Was tonight Rick's first time hearing that Michonne had feelings for him too, or did he already know?

Then Michonne thought back to Jessie, whom she couldn't truly be upset with. Jessie like her, longed to have someone to care for her. Although she was married, Pete hadn't shown a genuine care for years, and like Rick mentioned she wanted to fill that void. Besides it wasn't like Michonne explicitly marked her territory on Rick. Although the family knew they had a special bond, people from the outside looking in could view Rick and Michonne as strictly best friends, or Michonne as his kid's caretaker. She never formally claimed Rick. Maybe it was time for a change, Michonne considered as she rested her eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

The following morning, Rick woke up Carl to briefly inform him of yesterday's events with Jesus. As normal, Judith was already up and cheerful. Rick took this small window of time to rock her in his arms. At the end of the retelling of events, he passed Judith over to Carl and kissed them both on the forehead before making a stop next door. Rick knocking lightly on Michonne's closed door to prevent startling her.

"Come in," Michonne voiced calmly from the other side of the door. Rick opened the door to see her sitting on her bed fully dressed, and watching the neighborhood out the window.

Rick crossed his feet as he leaned against her door frame. "I wanted to properly say goodbye before I left."

She smirked, reminiscing on their conversation from last night. "No need, I planned to walk with you." She grabbed her katana that lie on the side of her bed, and followed behind Rick down the stairs where Carl was preparing to feed Judith.

"Be good. I'll hopefully be back early tomorrow," said Rick.

"Okay dad." Carl answered. Before Michonne could turn her head to follow Rick again, Carl gave her a wink, having an inkling that she was going to talk with his dad. Michonne turned up the corner of her mouth in a small smile, stepping onto the front porch at Rick's side.

"You seem better today." Rick said, squinting up at the sun.

"Yea."

They began walking down the road. "I thought a lot about what you said last night. I knew you were upset with me for a while but I wasn't exactly sure why. I'm not able to read your mind when you shut me out, but now I understand why you did. I had a feeling that Jessie had a part in it, but I had no idea that I was hurting you by not being around as much. Guess I should've learned that from Lori the first time." He rubbed the back of his neck, reminded of his ex-wife's several complaints about his absence during his time at the sheriff department.

Michonne replied, "To be honest, I haven't been the most vocal person either."

"You got that right." Rick joked with her, she rebutted with poking him in the ribs with her elbow, her teeth shown in a giant grin.

"You're no saint either." Michonne comfortably interlocked her left arm in Rick's right arm as they passed more familiar houses down the road.

"Tis true. I've never been very vocal." He glanced at the sky, then looked back down at her profile. "Look, it's not like I haven't wanted to see where things with us go," Michonne's eyebrow lifted, "its just everything has been crazy around here. One thing after another. I knew if I was going to go there with you, I wanted to be serious about it and put my all into the relationship." Michonne's heart thumped so hard, she was sure that Rick could hear it too. "I want to be the man for you that I wasn't able to be with Lori." Rick looked off into the distance, feeling unsure of his self and quite vulnerable.

"But that's it Rick, you don't have to be anyone for me but yourself, because I love you for the man that you already are. Otherwise I would've left a long time ago." Michonne waited to see his eyes lock on her eyes, as she caressed his conjoined arm. He couldn't contain the smile that adorned his face.

"I love you too Michonne." He scratched his head with his free arm. "Man, our timing is impeccable." Almost as if planned, they reached the gate to Alexandria, where they awaited Spencer whom was on guard duty. Rick decided, "We'll figure this out first thing when I get back, I promise. But I still want to give you a proper goodbye first."

Spencer granted them access to the outside world, where a large RV was being loaded. Rick held Michonne's hand and led her off to the side of the van, hunting down a private location away from the group. They passed Denise and Tara who were awkwardly saying bye to one another, as well Glen and Maggie standing off to the side as well. Michonne witnessed Glen rubbing Maggie's stomach, and she made a mental note to ask Maggie about it later. Maggie, however, had taken note of Rick and Michonne holding hands and she gave her friend a wink. Moving further, Michonne was able to see Rosita's reflection in the driver seat mirror, in addition, Abraham and Sasha arrived giggling as they walked through the front gates.

Rick stopped their short trek by a tree, but she was distracted by a mysterious man walking in a long cloak and thick skullcap. Rick turned around to figure out what grabbed her attention. "Oh, that's Jesus."

"Looks like an interesting character." Michonne said.

"Yea, if everything goes well, I'll introduce you to him the next time he's here. Right now I'm not so sure I can trust him. I mean, he _did_ try to steal our car yesterday." Michonne laughed at the picture in her head.

Tara projected to the group loitering outside, "Hey the van's ready to go. Let's wrap things up people. Rosita gets impatient really easy." Tara chuckled as Rosita threw a pen out the window of the van at her.

Hearing Tara's warning, Jessie rushed through the open gates on a mission to find Rick, with her fancy dress and perfectly curled hair. So many people were going on the run, that she found Rick difficult to find. Jessie used her right hand to shade her eyes as she scanned the scene at the R.V. Rosita was in the van, Abe and Sasha laughing nearby, Maggie and Glenn talking sweetly to one another, and then she grasped sight of Tara gawking silently at something further off in the distance. It was Michonne and Rick, standing at a tree holding hands in what seemed to be a flirtatious conversation. She had never seen Michonne look that sweet and demure before.

Back at the tree, Michonne chuckled and rubbed her thumb over his, on the verge of letting his hand go. "I'll leave you to your adventure sheriff. Your kids are safe with me."

"I wouldn't doubt it for a second." Rick wrapped his arms around Michonne's shoulders and pulled her into his embrace, she placed her arms on his wide, strong back. He then leaned his head down and captured her lips with his own, the simple kiss turned passionate as both Rick and Michonne resented not finishing what had started last night. He licked her top lip using the tip of his tongue, forcing Michonne to suck on his bottom lip. Rick groaned into her mouth, pinning her against the tree with his body. Michonne moaned, responding to the happy surprise growing in Rick's pants.

"Get a room!" Glen yelled, after Maggie pointed the pair out.

Jessie couldn't close her gaping mouth, hurriedly running back inside the gates, she picked out the bobby pins that securely fastened her hair, and threw them on the ground, despising that she had wasted time on looking good for Rick, when he was clearly already taken.

Interrupted, Rick stopped what he was doing and smiled against Michonne's shoulder. She giggled at Rick's frustration and peeked from around his body to see everyone staring back at them with giddy smiles. She thought she saw someone running out the gates, but the kiss Rick had given her still had her reeling.

Rick refused to turn around, "Alright, give me a minute!" Michonne was thoroughly entertained by Rick's blushing.

He rolled his eyes. "Again, we'll finish this later." Before releasing her, Rick whispered in her ear, "By the way, do you sleep in those type of pajamas all the time?"

She blushed, "It was hot last night."

"Have those shorts on when I get home." He quickly pecked her neck and stung her backside with a slap to her ass. Before she could retaliate, he jogged back over to the RV and climbed in. Michonne immediately started making babysitting plans for Carl and Judith, for when Rick would be back.


End file.
